228 EVILS OF MODERN STABLES. 



v^oice may produce its usual effect, his costume is altogether a disguise. 

 The man not being recognized, his strange figure may renew the general 

 alarm : when the gangway, having on both sides the hind feet of terrified 

 horses projected into it, becomes anything but a safe promenade. 



Now, what produced this excitement of the stable ? It was not the 

 dream of one animal which caused it. That may have commenced the 

 tumult, but it was not of itself necessary to the perpetuation of the 

 uproar. The hoof of one quadruped striking the stall post also was 

 distinct from the subsequent noise, which started into existence only 

 with the spread of alarm. Then was generated the terror ; for the feel- 

 ing must have preceded the act, which announced itself by violence. It 

 was the darkness or the silent solitude of the night which allowed full 

 play to the fancy, and conjured up those shadows that drove the horses 

 into temporary madness. 



Had not the heads been fastened, the animals, by moving about, could 

 in some measure have tested the reality of their fears. But, fastened to 

 one spot, the fact of having no ability to escape augmented that alarm 

 which the darkness of the stable and the oppression of silence caused 

 and subsequently confirmed. A loose box and a little light would have 

 rendered this noise an impossibility 1 The horse's eye can see perfectly 

 in that dusk which to the feebler vision of man might represent an 

 approach to positive blackness. There are few horsemen who, when 

 riding by night, have not had reason to be grateful to the keen percep- 

 tion of their four-footed servants. There are, however, fewer horsemen 

 who are aware whence the animal derives this faculty of distinguishing 

 objects in all but perfect darkness. 



Cats, owls, and other creatures are popularly reported to see in the 

 dark. The discernment of every form of vision is disabled by perfect 

 darkness ; but the eyes of such animals are so constructed as to collect 

 and reflect upon the optic nerve any remaining ray of light. The horse 

 has an eye endowed with a similar faculty. Most people must have 

 observed that horses assemble under the trees, and apparently sleep 

 during the daytime. Who, however, ever beheld one of the equine race 

 resting during the night ? When summer prevails, night is the feeding 

 time of these quadrupeds. When the flies are no longer abroad, but 

 the dewy grass is cool and crisp to the bite, — when the absence of glare 

 soothes the sight is the period of equine enjoyment and the season of 

 equine watchfulness. Does not the reader acknowledge intention in 

 such circumstances ? The carnivora, all of which delight in the flesh of 

 the steed, prowl by night, and abound in those regions of which the 

 horse was originally a native. For the conservation of the tribe, there- 

 fore, these creatures were formed very fleet, very endu'-mg, but no less 



